Just wandering if other drivers are finding it difficult to top up there batteries at public networks through other inconsideration of other drivers. At one particular site I have waited many hours in the hope that people would come back and move their car so I could access the power point. many people just seem to think they have a right to hog these valuable public charges leaving their car for many hours while they go shopping. on the few occasions I have been lucky enough to get access to the fast charge point I have made sure to go back to my car and move it after 30mins which is all it takes to top up the batteries. thus allowing others to be able to recharge their cars.

I was visiting Meadowhall shopping centre a few weeks ago. On arrival at the stores fast charging bay at 8.45am I found that the Security had a van plugged into the fast charger. As the stores I aimed to visit were n not open I decided wait expecting to see a security guard come and move the van as it was fully charged. I sat and waited until 10.30am and still no one had come to remove the van. By this time I was getting quite annoyed so I went on the web site via my phone to find out who was in charge of these charging point when I spotted 4 security guards coming towards the van. I asked them if they were going to free up the charging point they all looked a bit unsure how to remove the van from the charger. I showed them how to remove the connecter from the van and got talking to the person in charge of security told me they had only just got the electric van. I explained that the fast charge only takes about 30mins to charge to 80% then the van would stop the charging so that the battery cannot over charge. he told me that the security would be instructed that they were not allowed to leave the van connected to the fast charge between 8am- 10pm in future as this point is for customers. he also said he would look into getting a sign made to advise other customers to be more considerate to others.

I’d say it depends on the type of charger really. I can’t say that as a PHEV driver I’d be devastated if a charger wasn’t available. I’d be miffed if someone was using it as a parking space with no effort to charge, I wouldn’t be hanging around for the spot either.

I’d expect destination chargers to be occupied for a few hours / all day if they’re near an office and even the fast chargers could be tied up for a few hours near shopping centres / cinemas etc.

Rapids shouldn’t be unattended (save for a trip to the service station loo or similar) and if I were a BEV driver then I’d rightly be annoyed if those were hogged.

There’s an interesting debate going on anout this on SpeakEV at the moment and general consensus is that it’s lack of education and awareness when buying the car - with dealers being clueless about how the cars should be used properly.